Lab, 2010

The New Yorkers throw a curve ball with the first track proper on Phoenix, with a grittier southern drive alongside the slick harmonic choruses. The rest of the album however is wholly in the domain of youthful pop-punkcore: multi-vocalled, emo-flavoured, and containing more sugar than a fat kid on Halloween. (A special prize to the listener that manages to digest the 5000+ ‘crazy’s of the song, err, “Crazy” without an especially messy overdose.)

Creator-Destructor, 2010

The debut from California’s Seahaven takes influences from both Brand New and Crime In Stereo, but ends up sounding like neither. This is a good thing – their melodic indie-punk mixture has its own infectious and somewhat downbeat character, which avoids drowning in its gloomy waters due to the frequent injections of youthful buoyancy. Very promising.

Photo Finish, 2010

Slick hard-rock with tons of energy, drive and, yes, attitude. Lowcountry dumps the pop-punk influence of Envy’s debut in favour of a mix of southern rock and bluesy guitars, if still keeping a recognisable post-hardcore element. The vocals are always prominent, landing somewhere between Brandon Boyd and Daryl Palumbo – and that comparison works fairly well musically too, though it’s closer to Incubus on both counts.

Self-released, 2010

Fairly standard emo/post-hardcore fare from the young UK band. Their debut EP isn’t terrible (except for the out of place chorus on “I Just Wanna Party”, which sounds like a rejected Bloodhound Gang line), but it’s not terribly remarkable either. Only try them out if you’re a big fan of the genre.

Wolf At Your Door, 2010

The lyrics will probably divide listeners on this one: singer Mike Duce doesn’t hold back with his blunt and vitriolic opinions on young life in the UK (unemployment, dissatisfaction, Facebook, daytime TV, Xbox 360). But there’s no disputing his knack for shaping those lyrics into extremely catchy choruses, and the rest of the band are equally adept musically, providing a very tight backdrop of melodic hardcore.

Bridge Nine, 2010

There was a lot of anticipation for this record after the ambitious Is Dead, and the Long Island quintet don’t disappoint. Or not much, anyway – with its emotionally-barbed rock, noisy punk outbursts, and perpetual thirst for experimentation, I Was Trying… is better than its predecessor, if not quite the gamechanger some predicted (and a touch too reminiscent of fellow Islanders Brand New).

Self-released, 2010

Heights’ debut EP kicks off with a sweeping tremolo guitar riff, before shifting into Meshuggah-inspired riffing and screaming, and then dabbling in some electro ambience – essentially summing up the Hertfordshire quintet’s ambitions in the first minute. The Land… brings to mind UK contemporaries like Devil Sold His Soul and Fell Silent. Not wholly original, but a promising start.

Top shelf, 2010

Old Pride impressively combines the furious cacophony of screamo with the sweeping guitars of post-rock. The unrestrained screams of the vocals ensure the raw and bloody heart of the band is always on display, an impulsive urgency matched by the restless instrumentation, with the dreamier melodies often dropped right into the centre of the chaos.

Burnished Salmon, 2010

Lead vocals that are more than prone to a falsetto, assisted by heartfelt screams and melodic guitars with slight technical flourishes – in short, everything you’d expect from a youthful post-hardcore/emo outfit, which Norwich’s Avosetta certainly are. Their debut EP hits all the required notes within the genre, but those notes are sounding a little overworked by now.

Popsmear, 2009

Ever wanted to know what Paramore covering Coheed & Cambria songs would sound like? What do you mean, no? Well anyway, Fighting The Villain’s debut EP sounds a bit like that, albeit with much less dynamism than the latter band, and less catchiness than either. Still, it’s tightly put together, and at least suggests the potential for a less derivative future.

Self-released, 2009

The swansong from the Brooklyn trio, Ghosts serves as a worthy tribute to their ten years of impassioned and dynamic punk rock. It’s fitting too that this is self-released – this was always a band that poured their heart and soul into what they did: their music, their terms. Ghosts epitomises that idealistic core and determination, and is thoroughly catchy as a bonus.

Get This Right, 2009

Both a debut for Daylight and new label Get This Right, Sinking is five tracks of gritty and melodic punk rock in a Hot Water Music vein. Dual gravel-throated/melodic vocals passionately espouse some fairly gloomy lyrics in a sound that’s still pretty raw, but impressive in its dynamics and range. Good things lie ahead.